Power Automate - Price Increase - new license model / Approval flows in Azure Logic Apps

[bernd_lueckl]

Hello,

I have some questions regarding the new licensing model of Power Automate and a missing feature in Azure Logic Apps. 

For the most part, we would be able to use Azure Logic Apps to handle a large number of our customers' workflows - also for an acceptable price - as feedback, we can already give feedback that the price increase by Power Automate definitely discourages many customers (and especially SMB) .

From the current point of view, in Azure Logic Apps we only miss the approval system from Power Automate.

For this reason, I would like to ask this community If someone have more information. Will Power Automate approval system available for Azure Logic Apps in a timely manner?

Add. We have the following licensing question: Related to pro flow plan licensing, a question or entry hurdle for customers has been identified from our side:

• Is MS planning an adoption of the entry-level license for the Power Automate “per flow” variant in a timely manner?
• For our customers, at the moment the entry price (€ 421 per month) is the biggest blocker.

Thank you for your answers & support!

[ancunha]

Hi bernd_lueckl, 

Regarding your question of "Power Automate approval system available for Azure Logic Apps", I do not have information regarding this.

Regarding the pricing of flow, you have 3 levels:

• Power Automate per user plan which equips a user to run unlimited flows (within service limits) with the full capabilities of Power Automate based on their unique needs for $15/user/month.

• Power Automate per flow plan which enables organizations to implement flows with reserved capacity that serve teams, department, or the entire organization without having to license each end user. This plan starts at $500/month for 5 flows.

• Per user plan with attended RPA Allow individual users to create unlimited flows, plus automate legacy applications through robotic process automation (RPA) and AI. $40/user/month.

Please refer to : https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/ and https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/powerapps-flow-licensing-faq

Depending on your business needs, I suggest you start with the "per user flow" and test it with few users and then, if you need that your all organization needs to use the flow, move to the "per flow plan". 

This 2 plans allow customers to manage what is best for them: if you only need 5 users to use the flow, then the "per user" flow would be more into account ($75). If you need that 5 or less flows are shared withing the all organization and lets imagine, the organization has 100 employees, then it would be better choose the "per flow" plan -  $500 Vs. $1500.

But please note that the approvals connector is not a premium connector, therefore you can use it with non-paid flow licenses, like the ones that come with Office 365. Therefore, if you have Office 365 licenses that is eligible for flow per office license, you can use approvals without purchasing additional flow plans. 

[bernd_lueckl]

Hello @ancunha ,

Thank you for your quick response & comprehensive information.

We know already the 3 licensing options (per user, per flow & RPA) and did already a lot calculation in order to recommend the best option for our customers. Therefore, we know that the "per flow"-license should be preferred if there are more than 33 users in a company (based on current pricing).

Please let me clarify why these two questions are so important for us and our customers:

In professional flow implementation we often have to use http-actions or -triggers (premium) and therefore we definitely need in the most cases a premium license (per user or per flow).

A lot of our customers are having around 200-300 employees and therefore only the "per-flow" license is a suitable option.

However, our customers would like to start with a single use case/workflow in order to get in touch with Power Automate & validate the functionality of the plattform. The problem is that the first purchase of the "per-flow" license requires to buy 5 flows for around 421€ per month -> this entry hurdle of more than 5000€ only for licensing costs discourage many customers (and especially SMB).

Question 1 - Is MS planning an adoption of the entry-level license for the Power Automate “per flow” variant in a timely manner?

(I'm quite sure that are customers are willing to increase the purchased number of "per-flow"-licenses if it goes hand in hand with new use cases in the company / but buying 5 und just using 1 ... ) 

In case of a workflow that gets rarely executed, the price difference between Azure Logic Apps and Power Automate is enormous - e.g. Flow in Azure Logic Apps (around 100€ per year) vs Power Automate per Flow License (more 5000€ per year / because of the high cost entry barrier). Therefore, a lot of our customers would prefer Azure Logic Apps over Power Automate.

This is only possible if they don't need the powerful approval system of Power Automate. Currently, it seems that approvals are not available for Azure Logic Apps.

Question 2 - Will Power Automate approval system be available for Azure Logic Apps in a timely manner?

Thx in advance!

Best regards,

Bernd

[ancunha]

Hi Bernd, 

Unfortunately I don't have any information on your questions. However I advice you to post an idea on our  communities' site, so our PG can ponder on it, if it gets voted (https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Ideas/idb-p/MPAIdeas/status-key/New).

This new pricing model is quite recent, and they're analyzing the best options - that's also why they launched the "per flow" option, that wasn't initially available.  Your feedback is important since it will make them see the customers point of view, and think in possible options for different users. 

Regarding the test, for now your customers can always test it with the trial licenses - of course there's the downside of expiration date, but you can extend it. I understand that this is not the ideal scenario for you, but is what we currently have available. 

If you post any idea, feel free to post the link here so I can vote on it!

[bernd_lueckl]

Hello @ancunha ,

it's a pity that you don't have any information regarding my questions/requests.

I followed your suggestion and I created two new ideas (one for each feature request):

•  Power Automate new pricing - entry hurdle "per Flow" license too high / https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Ideas/Power-Automate-new-pricing-entry-hurdle-quo...
• Power Automate approval system for Azure Logic Apps / https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Ideas/Power-Automate-approval-system-for-Azure-Lo...

It would be nice if you could vote for both requests - thx in advance!

Best regards,

Bernd

Best regards,

Bernd